


Pawns

by Squarepeg72



Series: Peg's Knights [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Chess, Coffee Shops, F/M, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:21:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27692717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squarepeg72/pseuds/Squarepeg72
Summary: A mix up in sitter plans may keep Harry and Ginny from Chess Club. Will their friends actually believe them when they arrive?
Relationships: Daphne Greengrass/Theodore Nott, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood
Series: Peg's Knights [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1980170
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Pawns

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 17 - Family in 31 Day of Writing
> 
> The third of fIve stories in the Peg's Knights collection - another trip into the world of Java Knights
> 
> [ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/148170750@N07/50413877062/in/dateposted-public/)  
> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/148170750@N07/50413720361/in/dateposted-public/)  
> 

Harry: Are you going to be ready to go when I get home?  
Ginny: What time is it?  
Harry: Half past. We need to leave not long after I get there.  
Ginny: Fell asleep  
Harry: Does your mum have James?  
Ginny: No, he’s playing in the floor  
Harry: Is he coming with?  
Ginny: Not if you want to stay the whole time  
Harry: Call your Mum and see what’s going on. She usually likes Friday nights with James  
Ginny: We may be late for CC  
Harry: Nothing new. They’ll just ask if we we're taking a nap :)

Ginny watched James play with his blocks for a few minutes before she picked up her mobile again. It was unusual that her mum wasn’t here to pick up James yet.

“Hello Mum?” Ginny’s voice felt rough as her mum answered the phone. “I was wondering?”

“If I was coming to get James?” Her mum’s chuckle filled the line and made Ginny smile. “I sent your dad. He should be there in about five minutes. Harry called this afternoon anyway.”

“Why did he call? He never usually calls you. He usually makes me do it.” Ginny was puzzled.

“Because he knew you took today off because you haven’t been feeling well and he worries,” Molly answered Ginny. “He didn’t want you to have to worry about anything. I just got behind getting snacks ready.”

“So you sent Dad to get James.” Ginny tried not to laugh. “You know that is a dangerous thing. He will make a stop or two before he gets here for car snacks and then at least one stop before he gets home. Because ‘James needs a treat’.”

“Your father is not that bad…” Molly’s voice trailed off.

“How long ago did he leave the house?” Ginny was having trouble talking because she was laughing.

“About twenty minutes ago.” Her mum sighed. “If he is not there by the time Harry gets home, let me know. I’ll send the cavalry out for him.”

“Mum, you know better than to send either George or Bill after Dad.” Ginny wiped tears from her eyes as she tried to contain her laughter. “They are worse than Dad when it comes to James. If you send them, I will be cleaning practical jokes out of James’s bag for a month.”

“They are not that bad.” Ginny could hear her mum shrug on the other end of the line. “At least, not lately.”

Hermione: I’ll miss you guys tonight.  
Luna: You just had a baby. We will come see you this weekend  
Daphne: She is a cutie. I can’t wait to spoil her some more  
Ginny: We may be a little late  
Hermione: Taking a nap?  
Luna: You would think she would know the dangers of nap time by now  
Daphne: She is working on bun #2  
Ginny: No … I am not taking a nap. Mom sent Dad to pick up James and he isn’t here yet  
Luna: You are never going to get here  
Daphne: How many stops will your dad make before he gets there?  
Hermione: He just stopped by here to snuggle Rosie…  
Ginny: Please, let there be no traffic  
Luna: Why?  
Ginny: If dad isn’t here by the time Harry gets here, Mum is sending George after him …

Harry watched his father-in-law walk towards his car with James. He had trouble stopping the smile from growing on his face as he turned to see his wife.

“I can’t believe you got him a police escort to our house.” Ginny still had her hands over her flaming cheeks. “At least, they didn’t turn on the sirens.”

“If I hadn’t gotten Edwards to find him and get him here before me, we would have not only been late for Chess Club, but we would have had to send out a search party for George. Edwards is also trailing him to make sure he makes it back to your mum’s without buying half the sugar in London.”

“How much do we owe Edwards?” Ginny’s voice was muffled by her hands. “I cannot believe this is how you are using department resources.”

“Edwards owed me for the shifts I covered for him a few weeks ago.” Harry shrugged. “The guys love James, and they usually take bets on who is coming to get him on Friday nights. They actually use finding Arthur as detective training.”

“For heaven's sake,” Ginny laid her head against Harry's chest. “I thought my brothers were embarrassing when we were children. Can we just go now?”

Ron: Did I just see an undercover car following my dad?  
Harry: Probably  
Neville: ???  
Theo: You do not seem surprised  
Harry: Molly sent Arthur to pick up James  
Ron: How long did it take him to get there?  
Neville: Why would that be a problem?  
Theo: I am still confused  
Ron: Where did they find him?  
Harry: He was in the check out at the grocers with a cart full of ice lollies and crisps  
Theo: So James is coming home high on sugar, that could be a problem  
Neville: Doesn’t your mum keep that stuff at the house?  
Harry: He left an hour before he was supposed to get James and still wasn’t there when I got home  
Ron: Please tell me she didn’t send George to look for him  
Neville: He cannot find his way out of the lab and he built that place  
Harry: Edwards found him before Ginny called Molly back and is following Arthur to make sure they get back to Molly before dawn  
Theo: Is he really that bad?  
Ron: When it comes to the grandchildren, yes

Harry held the door for Ginny as they walked into the Bishops Brew.

“We are only thirty minutes late,” Ginny grumbled as she ducked under Harry’s arm. “It is bad enough that I look like I swallowed a beach ball. Now, they are going to be asking me about my naps.”

“Just smile and say nothing.” Harry kissed her cheek as she walked past him. “They don’t get to know that some naps are more than just a nap. Besides, I think you are beautifully pregnant and cannot wait to meet this new baby.”

“Ginny, you’re here.” Luna got up from the table to greet the couple. “We have you a seat saved. Neville is waiting for you, Harry.”

“So, how was your nap?” Luna grinned as she watched Ginny drop into the chair she held out for her. “I know you are so pregnant you can’t see your feet, but…”

“I was not late because of a nap,” Ginny grumbled. “My husband had to all but call the squad to find my father so he could take James to Mum. I almost wish he was old enough to play chess with the boys.”

“That time will be here before you know it.” Daphne shrugged as she continued to type away on her computer. “I’m just happy I managed to get Theo away from his piles of papers long enough to come to Chess Club.”

“Is it the end of term already?” Ginny pulled her computer from her bag. “It feels like too early in the year for you both to be drowning in papers yet.”

“He is drowning. I am not.” Daphne shrugged. “He changed a couple of things in how he teaches one of his classes and then he left a set of papers in his bag last weekend. Ungraded papers reproduce like rabbits when they are left alone in the dark…”

Luna’s giggle seemed to break the seriousness of the table around her. “Multiplying like rabbits… Oh my.”

“Only you would find that funny, Lovegood,” Daphne grumbled. “You don’t have to live with the guy who forgot to grade one set and now has seven sets waiting to be graded.”

Neville: what are they laughing at?  
Theo: I have no idea  
Ron: Probably the fact that Harry had to call in his own department to find Dad  
Harry: Not me this time … Hey Theo, how are those papers  
Theo: Bloody hell, what did she say?  
Neville: What do rabbits have to do with you Theo?  
Harry: Rabbits?  
Theo: I’ll go hide now  
Harry: It can’t be that bad  
Ron: Just tell us  
Neville: They won’t let up until you tell  
Theo: She probably compared ungraded papers to rabbits left alone in the dark…

Roars of laughter from the chess tables caused Ginny to look over her shoulder. “What is going on with them?”

“If they don’t settle down, we will be having an early dinner.” Luna looked down at her mobile. “Neville says they asked Theo why we were giggling.”

“Harry says he may never get the image of paper rabbits jumping out of Theo’s bag out of his head for a while.” Ginny used her hand to cover her smile.

“I’m going over there.” Daphne pushed away from the table. “Someone has to save Theo from the chess loonies.”

“Maybe we should end Chess Club early tonight.” Ginny sighed as she rubbed her rounded belly. “Someone is a little active tonight and has decided to play football with my insides.”

“You just want to go home and take a nap.” Luna shrugged and went back to writing. “Come to think of it, a nap might just be a good idea…”

“Luna!”


End file.
